Definition

1. Noun:
   • A gambling game: A casino game where players place bets on which numbered compartment a small ball will land in after a spinning wheel comes to a stop.
   • A toothed wheel or tool: A small wheel with sharp teeth, used for making a perforated line (e.g., on sheets of stamps) or for decorative engraving.
   • A geometric curve: In mathematics, a curve generated by tracing a fixed point on one curve as it rolls without slipping around another fixed curve.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Gambling Game):
  • They lost a lot of money playing roulette at the casino.
  • The most common bet in roulette is on red or black.
• Noun (Tool):
  • The printer used a roulette to perforate the edges of the tickets.
• Noun (Geometry):
  • A cycloid is a type of roulette generated by a point on a circle rolling along a straight line.

Advanced Usage

• "Russian roulette": A metaphor for a very dangerous and potentially fatal game of chance, originally involving a revolver with a single bullet.
  • Driving without a seatbelt is like playing Russian roulette with your life.
• "To play roulette with something": To take reckless risks with something valuable.
  • The company is playing roulette with its reputation by ignoring safety standards.

Variants and Related Words

• No direct variants for the core noun form. The word "roulette" itself is used.
• Related Concept (Gambling): Roulette wheel (n): The physical spinning wheel used in the game of roulette.
• Related Concept (Geometry): Roulette family (n): The class of curves defined by the rolling motion, including cycloids, trochoids, and epitrochoids.

Synonyms

• For the game: Casino game, game of chance. (Note: "Roulette" is the specific name; there are no perfect synonyms.)
• For the tool: Perforating wheel, serrated wheel.
• For the curve: Rolled curve, trochoid (a specific type of roulette).

Related Phrases

• No standard phrasal verbs exist for "roulette" as it is primarily a noun.

Related Idioms

• (To play) Russian roulette: As described in Advanced Usage.
• Life is a roulette wheel: An idiom suggesting that life is unpredictable and governed by chance.
  • He believes life is a roulette wheel, full of random luck and misfortune.

Noun

1. a gambling game in which players bet on which compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball will come to rest in
2. a wheel with teeth for making a row of perforations
3. a line generated by a point on one figure rolling around a second figure